International Celebrity Trumpet Ensemble

“The formation of the International Celebrity Trumpet Ensemble came about through my contact with the instrument maker Karl Schagerl. Hans Gansch, Gábor Tarkövi and Florian Klingler all play Schagerl instruments and Karl sponsored their visit to London in February 2006. I invited Ryan Anthony, formerly with Canadian Brass and now Principal with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, to join us (his visit was sponsored by Yamaha) along with some of the great names of British trumpet playing such as Maurice Murphy, Rod Franks, Ian Balmain, Andrew Crowley and Nicholas Thompson.The result is Proclamation, some the greatest trumpet playing you will ever hear.”

Paul Archibald

The trumpet has evolved remarkably in the last half century. It is difficult to imagine that even in the 1950s the instrument was still confined largely to its traditional role within the symphony orchestra. Only a few years earlier Hindemith had written some of the first chamber pieces for the instrument since the early nineteenth century. Even Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto was only just recently being introduced to modern British audiences. But since then the instrument’s status has risen to a point where it is possible for players to enjoy a solo career, thanks to the example set by Maurice André, Håkan Hardenberger and others.The combination of trumpet and organ has proved to be especially effective, both instruments traditionally associated with ceremony and sounding particularly fine in a large acoustic. Since the 1980s the Wallace Collection has moved the imaginations of British audiences and composers into the realm of multiple trumpet music, and the rich pickings on this album are ample evidence that this repertoire is expanding rapidly and effectively.

Also the expansion is in several directions.The technical wizardry of the modern trumpet player gives a composer an unprecedented choice of idiom.The sine qua non of the instrument is its thrilling ability to respond to cavernous acoustics, clearly exploited in the music of Davies, Hakim and Françaix, and provoking the title ‘Proclamation’. But the light and fleeting moments of the Koetsier, recalling Mendelssohn at his most playful, may come as a surprise, alongside the quasi-medieval serenity of McDowall, the slow and oriental evolution of Hovhaness, or the backward glances of Chance and Archibald, the one respectful, the other comic.

(disc 1)

Rob Davies’ Proclamation and Trumpet Mechanism pairs music of grandeur, in the fine tradition established by Walton, with a virtuosically driven second movement, the latter working inexorably towards a rousing photo-finish. Both pieces were commissioned by Paul Archibald, the instigator of this album, the second being originally conceived for eight trumpets and two trombones.

Cecilia McDowall has adapted Three Latin Motets, originally written for unaccompanied choir in 2004, to create Three Antiphons for trumpet ensemble and organ.The motet texts all address the Virgin Mary.The first, Ave Regina, is gentle and lyrical.The calm and memorable opening phrase is hinted at in passages of more intensity, and its partial statement at the end leaves it lingering after the trumpets have faded away.The second antiphon, Ave Maria, intimate in expression, is scored for muted trumpets and contains expressive dissonances and suspensions of great purity and directness.The final antiphon, Regina Caeli, is a glorious movement, full of dramatic changes of mood and texture. Mark-Anthony Turnage, through the success of his operas Greek, Blood on the Floor, The Silver Tassie and several major orchestral works including a recent trumpet concerto, is now one of the most respected British composers in a revival of expressionism. From All Sides, commissioned by Andrew Crowley for this recording, gives a brief glimpse of a dark world of dislocated fanfares constructed from repeated and sustained notes.These herald a highly angular melody, shared amongst several players, before the two idioms combine, abruptly coalescing in a final glittering discord. A more substantial orchestral work of the same title is in progress.

From the 1950s, Alan Hovhaness increasingly based his amazingly prolific work on the stories, the philosophies, the musical structures and textures of the East, in part stimulated by the multiculture of his native North America.

Khaldis indicates a transition to this state, drawing on a legend from his father’s country, Armenia. It takes its name from the Urarduan (pre-Armenian) God of the Universe.The piece uses free canons throughout each of the movements, symbolising the tie between the earth and the universe.The concerto is a set of economical miniatures, accumulating strands of melody on a leisurely time-scale, anticipating some aspects of the minimalism which was to emerge from other North Americans interested in non-Western cultures a few years later.The exception is Bhajana (Adoration); this reverts to the composer’s earlier musical style, relating to aspects of the European Renaissance and which he was in the process of rejecting.

Naji Hakim’s musical career has made him organist at two of the most famous churches in the whole of France:

Sacré-Coeur (1985-93), visible from almost anywhere in Paris, and Saint Trinité (from 1993 to the present), with its unique musical reputation. In Hymne au Sacré-Coeur Hakim has created a tri-partite work, the other two sections being a deliberately naïve and hymn-like peroration, calling up for the central moments a more sophisticated musical language, modally sometimes reminiscent of the early works of his illustrious predecessor at Saint Trinité for more than forty years, Olivier Messiaen.

(disc 2)

In Holborne Tubes, Edward Chance’s unlikely word-play on Holborn links the London tube station of the second Elizabethan era to the composer Antony Holborne (d. 1602) of the first. Chance takes music with evocative titles from Holborne’s Pavans, Galliards and Almains... (1599), transforming ‘Faery Round’ into ‘Round Trip’, ‘The Face of Melancholie’ into ‘Rush Hour’, and ‘The Choise’ into ‘Red or Blue?’ (the latter referring to the possible underground choices of Central or Piccadilly line).The word-play of titles is paralleled in Chance’s concept of musical transformation, but he expertly preserves the characters of the three dance-types featured (galliard, pavan and almain) and offers a much more profound experience than a mere tube-journey.

The music of Jean Françaix most perfectly represents a brand of Gallic refinement and wicked humour typical of the period between the two world wars, but rarely had he written with apparent seriousness anything like a Marche Triomphale. Nonetheless, the collision of the extreme straightforwardness of the often-repeated melody and the quirky dislocations of harmony are a clue to the more complex character attempting to overturn this moment of solemnity, even as it was his last composition.

Karel Husa is a North American of Czech descent who has made a remarkable contribution to the literature for brass. His sharp imagination and unerring excellence in scoring produced these Intradas and Interludes in 1980 for the International Trumpet Guild, featuring every type of trumpet from flugelhorn to piccolo.The opening movement seems to pay homage to his compatriot composer Janácek’s Sinfonietta, the music continuing to broaden in scope and inventiveness through its five movements.

Alongside his career as a conductor in Lübeck, Berlin and the Hague, and his professorship of conducting at the Munich Hochschule für Musik in 1966, Jan Koetsier, as a composer, has added significantly to the repertoire for brass, from chamber works to concertos.The Concertino Piccolo combines both in a remarkable miniature of virtuosity and playfulness. While its style is perhaps the most conservative on the album, it is also the most controlled and the most orderly, yielding finely-crafted work, echoing at once Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn.

Paul Archibald wrote Charpentier Fantastique for the wedding of Peter Wright and Kurumi Ogura, initially as the exit music for the wedding party. Believing that the guests would have left the church soon enough, he added a riotous coda, giving the players the chance to let their musical hair down in private. But the bride, groom and guests were too intrigued and stayed to applaud the music, providing a suitable conclusion to a happy occasion.This scenario explains the relatively sober re-orchestration of Charpentier’s Te Deum, followed by suddenly irresponsible imitations of J S Bach and Malcolm Arnold, and reminiscences of Britten’s Peter Grimes.

© AGW-D 2006

Ryan Anthony (trumpet) studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and won many national prizes and awards in the USA. Having worked with most of the major American orchestras, he currently holds the Principal Trumpet position with The Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of Canadian Brass until 2003 and continues to enjoy appearances with them. As a Yamaha artist he maintains an active solo career as a classical and pops soloist both with orchestras, and in recital with organist Gary Beard. He is a committed educator and gives masterclasses throughout the world.

Paul Archibald (trumpet/conductor) was appointed Co-Principal Trumpet in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1978. In 1980 he relinquished this position to concentrate on his group, the English Brass Ensemble, and to perform as a member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the London Sinfonietta. In 1984 he was a prizewinner at the Toulon Prix de Concours. From 1995 to1999 he was Principal Trumpet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and is now focussed on his work as a soloist, his duo with Juliet Edwards and orchestral playing with the Britten Sinfonia and the London Mozart Players.

Ian Balmain (trumpet) studied with David Mason at the Royal College of Music. Since 2003 he has been Principal Trumpet of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He was previously Principal Trumpet of both the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also regularly invited to perform as a studio artist, performing on film and TV soundtracks, and is much sought after as a teacher.

Andrew Crowley (trumpet) studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Ray Allen. During this time he won many solo prizes and gave his first recital at the Purcell Room for the Park Lane New Young Artist series. He is now Principal Trumpet with both the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. As a soloist he has performed at many major European festivals with the English Chamber Orchestra, and regularly performs as a studio artist, having recorded over 100 film soundtracks. Andrew has also played live in concert and recorded for artists such as Quincy Jones, Ornette Coleman, Joni Mitchell, Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams and Tom Jones.

Rod Franks (trumpet) studied with Philip Jones, Maurice Murphy and John Dickenson at the Royal Northern College of Music before being appointed Principal Trumpet of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in 1977. He returned to England to join the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble in 1984, later becoming a founder member of London Brass. In 1988 he joined the London Symphony Orchestra and since 1990 has shared the Principal Trumpet chair with Maurice Murphy. Rod has given masterclasses in Europe, Asia, USA and South America and is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music.

Hans Gansch (trumpet) studied at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz. In 1974 he was appointed Principal Trumpet in the Bruckner Orchestra, Linz, moving to the Radio Symphony Orchestra,Vienna in 1976. In 1982 he joined the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Trumpet, a post he held until 1996. He now teaches at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and performs as a soloist throughout the world.

Florian Klingler (trumpet) studied with Hannes Buchegger and Erich Rinner. In 1996 he joined the European Union Youth Orchestra and in 1997 became Principal Trumpet of the NDR Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg. Since 2000 he has been Principal Trumpet of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a member of the Austrian Brass Connection and the Brass Band Fröschl Hall, and teaches at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium, Munich.

Maurice Murphy (trumpet) was taught the cornet by his father and played in brass bands in Yorkshire, including the famous Black Dyke Mills Band with whom he played Solo Cornet from 1956 to 1961. He went on to work with the Hallé Orchestra and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and was Principal Trumpet of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra from 1961 to 1977. Since then he has been Principal Trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Heidi Sutcliffe (trumpet) graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2005 and currently freelances in London, working with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the London Mozart Players and the English Chamber Orchestra. She is a member of the Lancier Brass Quintet who were featured artists in the Park Lane Group season for 2005-6 and winners of the Royal Overseas League Mixed Chamber Ensemble Prize in 2006.

Gábor Tarkövi (trumpet) began his studies with György Geiger at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest in 1987. He went on to study at the Budapest Music Academy and has since held positions as Principal Trumpet with the Württemberg Philharmonic in Reutlingen, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, before being appointed Principal Trumpet of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004. He continues to perform as an international soloist and chamber musician.

Nicholas Thompson (trumpet) began playing the cornet at the age of four. He was the British Junior Champion at eleven and became Open Cornet Champion and winner of the first BBC Young Musician competition before entering the Royal Academy of Music in 1976. He has been the Principal Trumpet of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe since January 1988 and Head of Woodwind, Brass and Percussion at the London College of Music since October 2000. He maintains a busy and varied freelance career on modern and original instruments.

Matt Gee (trombone) is Principal Trombone with The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, a position he took up on completing his postgraduate studies at The Royal College of Music. He is a member of the Lancier Brass Quintet who, in 2006, made their Purcell Room debut and won the Royal Overseas League Mixed Chamber Ensemble Prize.

Robb Tooley (trombone) studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he won the Brass Prize in 2001. Since graduating he has enjoyed a busy freelance career and has played with orchestras and ensembles such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the English National Opera, London Brass, the Endymion Ensemble and the Northern Sinfonia. He also runs his own group, London Orphean Brass.

Scott Bywater (percussion) studied at the Royal Academy of Music and now performs as a freelance musician throughout Europe. He specialises as a timpanist and performs regularly with the major orchestras in Britain including the London Mozart Players, the City of London Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Matthew Turner (percussion) currently freelances with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the City of London Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Bruce Grindlay (organ) won prizes for organ performance and academic work from the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, returning to England in 1988 to take up the organ scholarship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is in frequent demand as a choral conductor, and gives many organ and harpsichord recitals. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and is Director of Music at Christ’s Hospital School.

Juliet Edwards (piano/producer) studied at the Royal Academy of Music and is an active soloist and chamber musician. She has performed with many distinguished soloists and ensembles including Robert Tear,William Bennett, David Campbell, Guy Johnston, Emma Bell, Paul Archibald, Crispian Steele-Perkins, the Schidlof Quartet, and her own group The Edwards Ensemble. In addition to this recording, she has produced recordings at the Royal Opera House and with the London Mozart Players.